Paradox

Hi,

So, we’ve got a major problem. In the Bible days, God did a lot. He spoke audibly to His people, He healed the sick, did a lot of miracles. Today, we see none of that happening. The Bible says that God is the same today, yesterday, and forever. So… we have a big problem. God is contradicting Himself, or so it seems. If God was really the same forever, wouldn’t we see those things happen today? Well, not exactly.

God didn’t change his mind about healing people. Remember what I said about God’s power flowing through you? It applies here too. You have to be close to God in order to see His power flow through you. However, early preachers didn’t like the idea that they weren’t close enough to God to see His power flow through them. So, they decided to teach their congregations that God no longer healed, no longer spoke, and no longer did anything miraculous.

John Paul Jackson had a prophetic dream once, and this is the gist of it.

He saw the armies of Israel marching through a valley, and an enormous pillar of fire and smoke intermingled together was leading them. The other armies of the world were preparing to come against them, but he could see their knees shaking as they tried to encourage their own troops. They knew it was hopeless.

Then, he saw a second scene. Same army, but this time, it was scattered. Some were very distant, some near. Some were in the valley, some on top of the mountains surrounding the valley. And it seemed that there was nothing in front of them. No cloud. John Paul asked God where the cloud was, and the Lord told him to look closer. The cloud was not gone completely, but a small, threadlike wisp of smoke remained. John Paul asked God, “What happened, Lord?” And the Lord responded, “They removed my glory by saying, ‘God no longer heals, God no longer speaks, God no longer delivers. And with my glory goes my presence, and with my presence go my acts, for my glory, my presence, and my acts are inseparable.”

Little rabbit trail here, but did you ever realize that the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire were not two separate things? They were the same intermingled cloud-like pillar. It just looked like a pillar of fire at night because you couldn’t see the fire as well during the daytime.

Anyways…

Wow, what a profound message. That is another reason why we don’t see God’s presence as much today. When a lot of people believe that God doesn’t do something anymore, they become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I honestly believe that the explanation that “God no longer does those things” was hand-crafted by the enemy in order to keep God from acting on our behalf. If people would start getting closer to God and preaching that God DOES speak (AUDIBLY!!!), and that God DOES heal, it would start happening! But, our preachers today are too afraid to offend people by saying that they aren’t close enough to God, so they keep the lie going. It drives me mad! That is why I’m trying to teach you these things. You need to believe these things as true, otherwise nothing will EVER change. We will never see God do anything on our behalf if we don’t believe that He’ll do it.

Actually, there is another problem with today’s church: some churches no longer preach that you have to repent from your sin. Repenting literally means “turning away.” You have to turn away from your sin. God also cannot do anything through you if you are living in sin. Why? Because He would condone your sin if He let you do continue healing the sick when you are directly disobeying Him. It’s kind of like spiritual grounding. “If you keep committing adultery, I’m going to take away the privilege of healing people.” An extreme example, yes, but you get the point.

Another way of putting this all is the matter of faith. You can’t have faith that God will do something if you don’t believe that He’ll do it. John Paul taught, “Faith is where hope and expectation collide.” Hoping that God will heal you is not enough. You have to get to the point where you EXPECT it to happen, and you would be shocked if it didn’t happen.

So, here are some things that God does, so that you can start building your faith in Him.

First of all, He forgives anyone who will ask for forgiveness and repent of their sin.

He speaks to anyone who listens to Him intently. The more you listen to God, the more and louder He speaks. Actually, that’s not entirely true. He speaks all the time at the same “volume,” but the more you listen, the more your spiritual ears become “unclogged,” so it seems as though God speaks more. But in reality, you can just hear his voice better.

He heals any kind of disease. (Cancer too!) Sometimes, however, a sickness, although God did not cause it, is used by God for some purpose. Take the story of Job for instance. His sickness was a major test of his faith. It was used by God to lead Job to promotion. If God is not healing you for some reason, consider whether it might be part of God’s plan that you are sick. Who knows, maybe being sick in bed kept you from driving to work and accidentally being involved in a wreck. So, if you ask for healing and it does not come, consider whether God has some purpose for it. Don’t lose faith in God’s ability to heal as a result.

He delivers anyone who will trust in Him. No matter how bad the situation seems, God will always have you in His hand. It’s amazing – if you will trust Him no matter how bad the situation seems, not only will He deliver you through it, He will give you a spiritual promotion (and that is something you really, REALLY want.) God will use you more when He knows that He can trust you. You can prove that you are trustworthy, by passing the tests that He puts before you.

To go back to Job’s story, his test was whether he would curse God in the midst of his circumstances. Well, he passed, and he was given back twice what he had before the test. If you trust God through the circumstances and pass His test, well, let’s just say it ends up being a whole lot better for you at the end. Most of God’s tests are just whether you’ll trust Him or not.

So, will you choose to believe that God does heal, speak to, and protect His children? It is your choice as to whether He does these things in your life or not.